Mailman Blues
by maniacalaughter
Summary: Seven guys. One girl. Friends and family who are out to get them. A wolf in the past and the present? What's a hanyou and a miko to do? This is the testimony of the lonely mailman who witnessed it all...


**Mailman Blues **

**Prologue**

* * *

The girl doesn't even worry about stopping her fall, but somehow retains a tiny sense of self-preservation and manages to cover her head. As it was, she needn't have bothered with either, as a solid, soggy, heavy body flattens the rest of her into the mud.

"Kagome?!"

The girl manages to sputter something that sounds like 'fine' before another mini-explosion echoes loudly behind them, and the boy wraps his arms and at least one leg around her, shielding her from damage, his fire-rat slowly turning the color of Jaken on a bad day.

Kagome closes her eyes as _something_ flies over her and the half-demon, an expanding ripple of energy pushing the torrent of rain lashing down on them in outward circles, sending pieces of debris flying, and even toppling some trees. Inuyasha growls low in his chest, the vibration raising the hairs on her arms, legs, and neck.

_Is...is it over?_

The girl slowly raises her eyes when the pressure on her back eases, lifting her head and looking around the sparse clearing. There was no sign of their enemy; no sign of the jewel that had caused them so much trouble for so long. All that was left was two very wet and tired demons; two beaten-looking humans; and one miko and one hanyou, that were now the butt-end of a joke that involved a lot of snickering.

"Would you rather we were blown to pieces?" an irritated hanyou asks, rising to his feet, and--almost as an after-thought--reaching one hand toward the girl still lying on the ground.

Kagome fights the urge to roll her eyes and takes the boy's hand, almost losing her grip because of the mud coating her fingers, before Inuyasha grabs the upper part of her arm and hauls her to her feet, albeit a little too quickly. The miko can't get enough traction to stay upright and her feet go sliding out from underneath her, sending her splaying back into the mucky, squishy substance.

This in itself would have been funny, but seeing as how Inuyasha hadn't prepared for the girl's weight to suddenly disappear from his grasp, the hanyou over-corrects and ends up sprawled on top of her again, though this time it's in a much more interesting position.

Hysterical laughter echoes from behind them, audible even over the rain pouring from the grey-black clouds that had set the mood for their final battle. Even a bolt of lightening that sets fire to a distant tree isn't enough to stop the chuckling. Subdue it, yes, but not stop it.

"Oi! Just shut up, would you?!" Inuyasha yells, struggling to get back to his feet while his hands keep getting sucked into the puddle.

The rest of their little group continues to snicker behind their hands, another bolt of lightening giving them the idea that maybe they shouldn't linger out in the open too much longer.

"Are you sure you don't want us to leave you two alone?" Miroku asks, forcing his expression into a serious frown as he and Sango approach the embarrassed pair, Shippo and Kilala perched on each of their shoulders, respectively.

"Of course not!" Kagome blurts out, trying to help Inuyasha by pushing on his stomach. The boy turns half-irritated, half-annoyed, half-blank golden eyes to her, and the miko wonders for a moment if she's said something wrong. "I mean, we need to get out of this storm..."

"Damn right," Inuyasha mumbles, finally getting his feet underneath him and rising into a crouch, bringing Kagome into a kneeling position in front of him. He narrows his eyes at her for a second, then gives her a smirk when she tilts her head, confused.

Before the girl can process what's happening, the half-demon has grabbed a handful of the gooey substance, pivoted around, and thrown all of it into a very surprised houshi's face, some of the mud splattering the kitsune on his shoulder.

Shippo needs no more encouragement, and immediately hops to the ground, diving into the mud and lobbing two, small handfuls at anyone within range, giggling the whole while. Kagome hesitates just long enough for a glob to smack her in the forehead and begin rolling down her face before she returns fire, managing to miss both of the demons beside her and hit the tajiya squarely in the face.

"Is that the way it's going to be, then?" Sango says, calmly setting her hiraikotsu on the ground before she starts using her feet to kick wide arcs of the brown muck over the three on the ground. Kilala manages to hang on to her shoulder for about a minute before she loses her grip on the rain-slickened shoulder pads, falling face-first into the mud beside Shippo.

Everyone begins laughing before a full-on fight ensues, Miroku--the oldest--only staying out long enough for Kagome to sneak up behind him and drop a handful down his robes.

"I believe that calls for a little revenge, my dear priestess," the monk says, dropping his staff and jumping into the fray.

The group continues to play for several minutes, until another bolt of lightening shatters a tree less than twenty feet away, the resulting thunder-crack resounding loudly in their ears as they high-tail it into the trees, leaving a muddy trail behind them.

-- -- -- -- --

"I love onsens."

Kagome giggles, watching as Sango brushes out her damp hair, only a slightly contented look on her face. The two of them and Kilala have just returned from the hot spring they had run across two days ago, before they had caught up to Naraku. The boys were now taking their turn at getting the soaked-in mud, demon guts, blood, and other assorted debris off their skin.

"They are nice," the miko says, pulling on the towel that she was wrapped in, and wishing that her things would dry faster.

Everything the group owned was completely soaked, or disgustingly dirty. The towels that Kagome kept in her bag had been fairly wet, but being completely cotton, they dried relatively quickly near the fire they had built when they had stopped. As a result, both she and Sango were now wearing only the warm fabric, waiting mostly impatiently for their clothes to dry. When the boys returned, they, too, would only have the drying-cloths to wear while their robes dried.

Miroku--of course--had been the first to suggest it, which should have gotten him a very large lump on the head. Sango, however, had surprised everyone when she actually agreed with the idea, arguing that they had known each other more than three years, and they should all be able to behave themselves by now. Somewhat grudgingly, Inuyasha and Kagome had assented.

"They sure are taking a long time," Sango says, turning in the direction of the hot spring before giving a shrug and settling down in front of a log whose close side had dried somewhat, from being near the fire. It also helps that the rain has lessened to only a slight drizzle.

"We took a long time, too," Kagome says, stifling a yawn as she remembers reveling in the warm water, letting it soothe her tired muscles and wipe away the scent of battle. "And we don't have a reason to hurry anymore. They could soak in there all night, but I don't think they want to end up as raisins in the morning."

Sango stops brushing her hair for a moment, tilting her head at the other girl. "What's a raisin?" she asks, giving Kagome a confused look when the girl starts giggling, then begins to laugh even louder at the tajiya's expression.

"Nevermind...," the miko says, waving one hand at the other girl before a movement at the edge of her vision catches her attention.

"Could they make these things any smaller?!"

Inuyasha comes to an abrupt halt as he breaks through the trees, glancing quickly at the slayer before his eyes drift to Kagome. She sees the golden orbs slide downward for a quick second before they snap back to hers, and the pair continues to stare at one another for several awkward moments, unconsciously straightening their coverings, their cheeks too pink to only be reflected light from the fire.

Miroku breaks the tension by striding back into their campsite behind Inuyasha, looking like he's just stepped out of a _GQ_ magazine. And he knows it, too.

"This was the best idea I've ever had," he says, flashing the women a huge smile before virtually strutting over to Sango and settling himself beside the girl whose face was turning a slow crimson, though she doesn't know if it's because of the boy..._man _in front of her, covered only from his waist to his knees in a sea-green towel, or because of the fact that much more of her body than normal was currently exposed. She decides that it must be a mix of both, but chooses to ignore her embarrassment in favor of teasing a decidedly uncomfortable-looking hanyou.

"What's wrong, Inuyasha? Miroku doesn't look that upset," she says, ignoring the glare being aimed at her and giving the half-demon an innocent look.

Inuyasha bares his fangs for a moment before plopping on to the ground a few feet away from Kagome, making sure his black towel was covering all his important bits. Finally seeming satisfied, the boy snorts to himself, crossing his arms and mumbling something about 'stupid, perverted monks' before eyeing his robes with a sneer. Kagome hides a smile, as she can almost see his mind willing the clothes to dry faster.

"I'd get used to it, Inuyasha. The humidity in the air is high right now, and they aren't just wet, they're _soaked_. It'll take several hours for them to dry," Kagome says, giving the boy a sort of resigned shrug. She pauses a moment to pull a sleepy Shippo into her lap, noticing that Kilala is already asleep in Sango's. "Too bad we couldn't find a shelter to stay in. At least then we could _really_ dry off."

The hanyou turns an annoyed glare on the girl for a few seconds before sighing. "I know. But this..._thing_...is just so...so..._revealing_."

The hanyou ignores the grins he's being sent and grudgingly reclines back against the log he and Kagome were leaning against as Miroku speaks.

"We're so far from Kaede's that hardly anyone lives in this part of Japan. It's gonna take us days to get back as it is. We've defeated our greatest enemy, lived to tell about it, and have had the pleasure of visiting an onsen and seeing our women in such _revealing_ outfits, as you so eloquently put it, Inuyasha," the monk says, ignoring the gaping stares he's getting from the miko and the hanyou for having said _'our_ women.' "Let us see what other good fortune falls on us this day."

The hoshin wraps one arm around the girl beside him, ignoring her scoff of protest as he plants a loud kiss on her cheek. Sango goes from semi-blue in the hazy air, to bright-red in less than a second, but she doesn't move away or slap Miroku across the face. Instead, she gives the other pair a slight shrug and a soft smile, leaning into the monk's embrace as another--larger--grin crosses his face.

"This is gonna be a long walk back home," the hanyou embarrassedly mumbles, raising one hand to run it through his damp bangs, but quickly dropping it back when his towel slips open.

* * *

Well? What did everyone think? This is the intro to maniacalaughter's co-written fic by brakken and phlawere, so we hope it went okay. Hang on to your towels, though, guys. This is gonna be an interesting ride... ;) Promise. Oh. Disclaimer: Neither of us owns the fabulousness that is _Inuyasha_, however much hanyou yumminess he may be...


End file.
